The Growth Differentiation Factor -15 (GDF-15) is a member of the transforming growth factor β superfamily. İt represents an example of the stress response cytokines. It's mostly found in cardiac myocytes, adipocytes, macrophages, endothelial cells, and vascular endothelial cells, whether they're generated normally or not. GDF-15 levels have increased and are associated with cardiovascular risk. Aim of the study: To investigate the correlation between angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) with the level of plasma GDF-15 in a group of hypertensive patients. Materials and methods: A case-control study involved 90 individuals, 60 hypertensive patients (36 on ACE inhibitors and 24 on ARBs) and 30 healthy individuals. Serum GDF-15 was measured and compared statistically between the two groups. Results: serum GDF-15 was significantly higher in both groups of hypertensive patients compared to the control group. İn addition, there was no significant difference in mean serum GDF-15 concentration between patients treated with ACE inhibitors with those treated with angiotensin II receptor blockers. Conclusion: GDF-15 increases in hypertensive patients and might be a reasonable marker of cardiovascular disease. Both ACE inhibitors and ARBs are not powerful enough to decrease GDF-15 concentration to that of the control group.
Public constructions contracts and concession, have been a link between the public and private sector for decades and we may find serious international efforts to consider it as an effective economic and legal means of providing public services(legislative framework), in the same time prevents states from drowning in loans, regrettably that Iraqi and Arab jurisprudence is still influenced by old version of oil concession agreements, in its research writings about the partnership between public sector and private sector. We have studied in detail the legal mechanism of concession award especially in France, We also studied the position of Egyptian legislation and focused on constitutional l
... Show MoreThe scope of the electrical power facility is determined by its employees' mistakes as follows and subject to its control and guidance, as well as those affiliated with mechanical machines or dangerous things that require special attention, and can be denied the responsibility based on a number of means to which the defendant is resorted to it, the law has been granted For the requirements of justice and to judge the judiciary in many of the provisions issued by an investigation into the principle of equity. The most important mistakes, which are the most important means that the electric power facility can resort to existing responsibility in accordance with Article (219) of the Iraqi Civil Law, which is responsible for fulfilling acts,
... Show MoreWater flow into unsaturated porous media is governed by the Richards’ partial differential equation expressing the mass conservation and Darcy’s laws. The Richards’ equation may be written in three forms,where the dependent variable is pressure head or moisture content, and the constitutive relationships between water content and pressure head allow for conversion of one form into the other. In the present paper, the “moisture-based" form of Richards’ equation is linearized by applying Kirchhoff’s transformation, which
combines the soil water diffusivity and soil water content. Then the similarity method is used to obtain the analytical solution of wetting front position. This exact solution is obtained by means of Lie’s
Autonomous systems are these systems which power themselves from the available ambient energies in addition to their duties. In the next few years, autonomous systems will pervade society and they will find their ways into different applications related to health, security, comfort and entertainment. Piezoelectric harvesters are possible energy converters which can be used to convert the available ambient vibration energy into electrical energy. In this contribution, an energy harvesting cantilever array with magnetic tuning including three piezoelectric bimorphs is investigated theoretically and experimentally. Other than harvester designs proposed before, this array is easy to manufacture and insensitive to manufacturi
... Show MoreThis paper deals with the determination of stresses and deflections of clamped circular diaphragm strengthened by one or two ring-shaped concentric ribs, under uniform static and dynamic pressures. The simulation has been achieved by using the well-known engineering software finite element package MSC/NASTRAN.
As a design study, the effect of using a clamped ring, and the effect of using a ring-shaped rib on both surfaces of diaphragm instead of one, has been discussed in this work. To show the effectiveness of this study, results of this work have been compared with published data [1].
In the conclusion, the authors underline the validity of the&n
... Show MoreMethotrexate (MTX), a folate antagonist agent, is mainly used in treatment of
malignant tumors and autoimmune diseases. The present study was undertaken to
determine whether antioxidant vitamin (vitamin A) could ameliorate methotrexateinduced
oxidative stress in male rabbits. Twenty male rabbits were randomly
assigned into four groups. Group 1: control group, Group 2: MTX-treated group
(received 20 mg/kg MTX intraperitoneally), Group 3: Vit.A treated group received
5000 IU Vit.A orally) and Group 4: MTX+Vit.A treated group received MTX 20
mg/kg plus 5000 IU vit.A). After 4 weeks of treatment, blood samples were
collected by cardiac puncture to determine the serum malondialdehyde (MDA), as a
good indicator for l
Ultra-High Temperature Materials (UHTMs) are at the base of entire aerospace industry; these high stable materials at temperatures exceeding 1600 °C are used to manage the heat shielding to protect vehicles and probes during the hypersonic flight through reentry trajectory against aerodynamic heating and reducing plasma surface interaction. Those materials are also recognized as Thermal Protection System Materials (TPSMs). The structural materials used during the high-temperature oxidizing environment are mainly limited to SiC, oxide ceramics, and composites. In addition to that, silicon-based ceramic has a maximum-use at 1700 °C approximately; as it is an active oxidation process o
Landfill and incineration are the most common and widely used methods to dispose of solid wastes; both of these techniques are considered the main sources of pollution in the world due to the harmful toxic emissions that are considered an environmental problem. Because of the large areas used by landfills, they are not always considered an economical method. With the increase in the production of solid materials, solid wastes increase the pressure on incinerators and landfills, making the environmental pollution hazard more serious. Instead, these waste materials can be used in some other applications. One of the most important of these applications is asphalt pavements, which are the most used types of pavements in the
... Show MoreThe atomic properties have been studied for He-like ions (He atom, Li+, Be2+ and B3+ions). These properties included, the atomic form factor f(S), electron density at the nucleus , nuclear magnetic shielding constant and diamagnetic susceptibility ,which are very important in the study of physical properties of the atoms and ions. For these purpose two types of the wave functions applied are used, the Hartree-Fock (HF) waves function (uncorrelated) and the Configuration interaction (CI) wave function (correlated). All the results and the behaviors obtained in this work have been discussed, interpreted and compared with those previously obtained.